Jakarta, W. Java gain softball championship titles

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta men's team routed West Java 9-2, while the West Java women's team stunned Jakarta with a 2-0 win at the National Softball Championships, which concluded on Saturday at Senayan's Cemara Tiga diamond.

Qualified through the national championships, which served as a pre-qualifier for next year's 14th National Games, are eight provincial teams for each gender.

The eight eligible men's teams come from Jakarta, West Java, East Java, North Sulawesi, East Kalimantan, Southeast Sulawesi, Yogyakarta and North Sumatra.

The eight women's teams are from Jakarta, West Java, East Java, East Java, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Lampung and North Sumatra.

Jakarta and West Java players also shared the best player titles at the championships. Two Jakarta players, Lukmanul Hakim of the men's team and Carrin Garimurti of the women's team, came out as the most valuable players of the championships.

The best male pitcher was Jakarta's Ardiansyah, while the best female pitcher was West Java's Muchtiara.

Lukmanul and Carrin were also elected the best sluggers. The best male hitter title went to East Java's Gafur, while the best female hitter went to Carrin.

Poor condition

Fatigue leading to poor concentration were to blame for the loss of West Java's men to Jakarta as well as for the loss of Jakarta's women to West Java.

Having to play three times the day before, West Java's men were apparently low on energy and were unable to develop their play. They managed to hold Jakarta 1-1 for four innings, but lost steam during the fifth. This might explain Jakarta third base Lukmanul Hakim's off-the-border hitting of the ball, which enabled Jakarta to score five points during that lopsided inning.

An omen of the Jakarta women's loss came with Carrin Garimurti's error at third base at the start while she was trying to anticipate West Java Sri's stop short hit. This was followed by the failure of Jakarta's infield to answer West Java Rini's center field hit, which resulted in West Java's occupation of base one and base two.

Jakarta regained some strength to retaliate, but West Java pitcher Muchtiara was too strong. Even though Jakarta's young women managed to launch hits, West Java's infield and outfield always found easy answers to them.

"We are on the ebb. Our players are exhausted. They spent much of their energy in the West Java championships one day prior to these championships," said Jakarta coach Ajang Suparlan. (arf)